Penang

We arrived into Penang a few days before Bev and Darsh joined us to assess the lay of the land. Penang is an island high up in Malaysia. We came here with Olive five years ago. It seemed much cooler that time. We are shocked how hot and humid it is now in April compared to November. 

Our apartment in Tanjung Takong is lovely, spacious and clean. The views from our 23rd floor are great, especially at sunrise and sunset.

We have sussed out some nice places to visit and some not so nice including the worst playground ever!

We have also spotted some things to put us off swimming: jellyfish and a big lizardy thing. We will stick to hotel swimming pools.  

For our first full day with Bev and Darsh, we had a lovely lunch at the impressive Blue Mansion - not very local but still tasty. Boo took a nice photo of us. 

A night walk at the Spice Garden gave us a chance to see snakes and spiders but we didn’t learn much about spices. 

We have been popping in and out of George Town a number of times as it is only 20 minutes away by Grab (the local version of Uber). Darsh found a super local stall in Little India selling tasty fried snacks - they were super fresh. 

Olive and Boo enjoyed looking round the Fire Station. The fireman was really welcoming. 

The ornate Kongsi clanhouse on Armenian Street was interesting. Boo loved the swing seat and Olive created a variation on the game Mahjong. 

Chew Jetty was interesting, although it looked a bit grimy as it was low tide which revealed all the rubbish filled mud. 

The Sunday market at an old bus depot gave me my best coffee in a long time. 

Olive did an awesome job at trying out gymnastics. I couldn’t have done most of the things she did. 

George Town put on a free bus that does a loop round the historic centre. Although it didn’t feel like anyone else on the bus was a tourist and one of the drivers seemed in a rush to get back to his depot. We didn’t learn much at all but we did stop off at a good local market to taste different foods and juices. Olive liked watching one stall making a pancakey type thing. 

We took a day trip across to the other side of the island to see the National Park - the smallest one in Malaysia. We remember coming here with Olive when she was one. We recreated one of the photos.